Pro Stock driver Rodger Brogdon was searching for just the right words to describe the loss of longtime drag racing announcer Bob Unkefer to the drag racing world. He wasn't the only one, as many members of the drag racing community were also trying to find the perfect words to describe what the 68-year old Unkefer meant to them. 

Unkefer passed away on April 11 after a brave battle with cancer. 

Brogdon considered Unkefer one of his best friends. 

"It's been a long, long time, over 20 years for sure that we'd been friends," Brogdon explained. "He was an amazing person and did so much for the sport. He was definitely by far one of the best that's ever been behind a microphone at a racetrack. I can promise you that. But more than that, Bob was just a friend to everybody; I don't know of one person he didn't dislike or one person he didn't go out of his way to make time to talk to. He'd look you up at the track just to make sure you were doing good, needed anything. There was only one Bob, let's put it that way. There will only ever be one Bob."

Brogdon knows with the absence of Unkefer; drag racing will feel a major void. 

"That's an understatement," Brogdon said. "Everybody enjoyed being around Bob. He just made you feel good. He always had something nice to say about you, a little funny comment about something. And I'm not the only one, but I personally would look him up at the track just because I just wanted to say, 'Hey, Bob, how's it going?" 

The loss will be felt for him the most, Brogdon believes, when his team pulls into Houston Raceway Park next weekend for the final event at the track located in Baytown, Tex.

"Every time you pulled into the track, NHRA Division 4 races for sure, you knew who was your mic man," Brogdon said. "Every once in a while, he couldn't work out a deal with a particular track owner and man, it was just not the same without him, and it won't be the same without him."

Brogdon is racing next weekend in Unkefer's honor. 

"It's something," Brogdon said, voice cracking. "It's just life, you know, but you don't have to like it."
 
Unkefer is survived by his wife Michelle, and their children, daughter Whitney and son Greg. 

The staff of CompetitionPlus.com held Unkefer in high esteem, and his loss breaks our hearts. Rest in peace, brother. You will be missed.